The Employment Law Reporter

Here is what we cover in this issue of The Employment Law Reporter:

• A federal court in New York has ruled that all five causes of action in an employment discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee of the New York City Department of Education should be dismissed.
• The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed a lawsuit asserting employment discrimination claims under New York law, essentially finding that the plaintiff’s allegations were too vague.
• A federal district court in New York has dismissed an employment discrimination action brought by a volunteer who was not an employee of the defendants.
• A federal court in New York has ruled that an employment discrimination action should be dismissed where the plaintiff’s complaint was “completely devoid of any factual allegations” that the defendant discriminated against the plaintiff on the basis of the plaintiff’s race, color, or age or that the plaintiff suffered emotional distress due to harassment on the job.
• The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed an employment discrimination lawsuit after finding, among other things, that the plaintiff’s complaint failed to state “any facts” suggesting that the defendants violated any federal antidiscrimination statute by treating the plaintiff differently because of his protected characteristics, or that he was retaliated against after he allegedly opposed discriminatory practices.
• An appellate court in New York, rejecting a trial court’s decision, has ruled that a company could terminate a former employee’s vested stock options where he violated the stock option plan’s nondisclosure covenant.
• An appellate court in New York has affirmed a trial court’s opinion dismissing a lawsuit seeking damages for fraud based on alleged statements by a defendant regarding the enforceability of a restrictive noncompete clause in an employment contract.

Kenneth A. Novikoff